The great drought
1 ① The word of Yahweh concerning drought came to Jeremiah:
2Judah mourns, the cities languish,
desolate, they sink to the ground.
From Jerusalem a cry is heard.
3The rich sent the poor for water,
but they found none at the cisterns,
and returned with empty vessels.
4The soil is cracked
because there is no rain in the land;
the farmers are dismayed
and have covered their heads like mourners.
5Even the doe in the fields
abandons her newborn calf
because there is no pasture.
6The wild donkeys stand on the heights
sniffing the air like jackals
and languish as they find not even a thistle!
7Even if our faults accuse us,
you Yahweh, work for the glory of your Name.
In truth, many have been our rebellions
and great is our sin against you.
8O Yahweh! Hope of Israel,
you who save in the time of distress,
why are you as a stranger in this land,
or like a traveler who stays only a night?
9Why should you be as if bewildered,
like a warrior unable to save?
But you are in our midst Yahweh,
and on us your Name has been invoked.
Do not abandon us!
Do not intercede for this people
10This is what Yahweh says about this people, “They like to wander here and there, not stopping for a moment, so Yahweh takes no pleasure in them; he remembers their wickedness and will punish their sins.”
11And Yahweh said, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people! 12If they fast I will not listen to their cry; if they offer me burnt offerings and oblations, I will not accept them. Instead I am going to make an end of them with sword, famine and plague.”
13And I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! You know what the prophets are saying to them: ‘You will not see the sword nor suffer famine for I will give you true peace in this place.’”
14But Yahweh said, “These prophets have proclaimed untruths in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. False visions, worthless divinations and delusions of their own imagination – that is what they prophesy.”
15And Yahweh added, “These prophets whom I did not send and who prophesy in my name, saying that the sword and famine will not touch this land – these same prophets will perish by the sword and famine.
16As for the people listening to them, their corpses will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or daughters, when they die of famine and by the sword. For I shall make their own malice fall upon them.
17This you will say to them: Let my eyes shed tears night and day without ceasing! For with a great wound has the virgin daughter of my people been wounded, a most grievous wound.
18If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword. If I enter the city I see the ravages of famine. For the prophet and the priest did not understand what was happening in the land.”
19Have you then rejected Judah forever? Do you abhor Zion? Why have you wounded us and left us with no hope of recovery?
We hoped for salvation but received nothing good; we waited for healing, but terror came!
20Yahweh, we know our wickedness and that of our ancestors, and the times we have sinned against you.
21For your name’s sake do not despise us; do not dishonor the throne of your glory. Remember us. Do not break your covenant with us! 22Among the worthless idols of the nations, are there any who can bring rain, or make the skies send showers?
Only in you, Yahweh our God, do we hope, for it is you who do all this.
- Jer 14,1 The passage beginning here concludes in 15:4. Jeremiah appears before Yahweh as the Jews used to do in the Temple to publicly confess the sins of the people, in the hope that the priests would give them an encouraging answer on behalf of the God who forgives. Jeremiah stands in solidarity with his people and with their sins. But God does not want to listen to him. Do not abandon us, O Yahweh! Jeremiah is distressed over his people's situation. Maybe God cannot forgive; maybe he cannot save? Here the human being is confronted by the mystery of God. Jeremiah does not get an answer: God does not answer Job either; and Jesus does not get an answer in his agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Heed what the prophets say: you will not fear the sword. There are plenty of false prophets reassuring a society based on false principles. Compared with them, Jeremiah appears weak and bitter, as the one who does not give Yahweh's answer. A true prophet is not accepted by his own people whereas those who provide opium for the people are praised.
